Thunder Thighs

It was warm in the apartment, so I left Elise's pants off after I changed her diaper. She loved it, for some reason. Then I was noticing how chunky her thighs are. Wow. I couldn't even capture the chub on camera; there was just too much of it!

This next one is the best I could do.

How does she keep herself in such excellent shape, you may ask?

She does these aerobic exercises all day, everyday.

No Parking

I got my first parking ticket. And within hours it was cancelled. It's kind of a long story, but Matt is kind of in an in between place with school right now. The car was registered under his name, but apparently he has no parking privileges (even though he is considered an active student, don't know how that happens). Anyway, all we had to do was register the car under my name and voila! the ticket was magically voided. That's $30 we didn't have to shell out. All's well that ends well, I guess.

Elise Update

Elise is growing so fast! She is doing new things all the time, and her personality is showing more and more every day. Here are a few things that she has been doing lately that I don't want to forget about her as an almost-8-month-old:

• She has recently started saying ba, ma, and ra. Elise has been really vocal since she was tiny, but she has never been into using many consonant sounds. I was starting to get worried, and then the other day she busted out with several consonants all at once. Her favorite is ba. I've got to get a good video of her new sounds. She whispers it in this one, but it's the best I have right now. Usually she says it nice and loudly.

• That video reminded me that she really likes it when you whisper to her. She thinks it's funny.
• She loves the bathtub. I tell her it's bathtime, and she gets so smily and excited and starts kicking her legs, no matter what mood she has been in previously. We got her some squirting bath toys for Easter, and she loves them. Mostly, she likes to suck the water out of them (disgusting, I know). The turtle is her favorite, I think because it's the easiest for her to suck the water out of.

• She still won't really eat anything that isn't pureed, but she's doing a little better. For a while, she refused solids altogether. I'm not so sure what to do about that, especially because her way of refusing solids is getting a giant mouthful then blowing raspberries. Since I'm not a huge fan of peas in my hair, we didn't press the issue too much. We have just kept offering her solids regularly, and lately she has stared to take them again. This kid must love to nurse. As much as I love breastfeeding and am so glad I chose to do it, I keep telling myself that she can't nurse forever, that she will eventually eat real food, and that keeps me going.
• She so wants to pull herself up to a standing position. In the bath she wants to use the ledge to climb (with my help) up to this tiny bar that is meant for hanging a washcloth on or something, and she holds on with both hands and stands on her tiptoes like she wants to get higher. She even tries putting her knees on the wall like she's going to climb up Spiderman-style. She tries to pull up on everything, even if it's ridiculously too short, like a wipes box. Maybe she'll succeed soon. In this picture we stood her up.

• She doesn't like grass poking her in the neck. Sometimes when it's warm we go outside and sit in the grass, but she simply won't lay on her back. Her neck is super ticklish.
• If she is sucking her thumb, she's either hungry or tired. Or both, like in this picture.

• She understands so much of what we say to her. If she is trying to sit up while we change her diaper, which she is constantly doing (literally), we can tell her "Lay down!" and she will do it (for a second, anyway). She is also beginning to understand (and ignore) the word no. I have also noticed that if we tell her a few times before naptime or bedtime that she is about to go to sleep after one more book (or whatever), she goes to sleep much more easily than if we just put her in her crib without warning her first.
• She's so dang cute!

I wanted to write this post mostly as a reminder to myself of what Elise is like right now. She is growing up too fast! I don't want to forget a single thing. Of course, I'm forgetting a thousand cute things she does even as I write this. At least there are sure to be many more moments in the future for me to dote on her.

A Mover and a Shaker

Elise is still army crawling everywhere, but she is getting really good at it. She can climb over some (small) things.

Underneath the jumperoo is one of Elise's favorite places to play these days.

She loves to teethe on those rubber pieces on the base.

The next one shows off her teeth, and if you look closely (and maybe enlarge the picture), you can see the third one. It's to her left of the other two.

She has also discovered that now that she can move, she can go to other rooms of the house. I'm a little surprised by how long it took her to venture into the kitchen, but it has definitely become one of her favorite places to explore.

She's about to suck her thumb in the next one. She has been sucking her thumb a lot more lately because she has been a little sick with a runny nose, which makes her not sleep as well. She sucks her thumb more when she's tired.

And she found the kitchen trash. (Yes, I know we have a lot of boxes by our trash can. Sometimes the dumpster seems so far away. Elise doesn't mind, though; she gets to play with the boxes!)

Patting the stove is also a new favorite activity. I guess it makes a cool sound.

But she's getting up on her knees more and more now. I think the traditional crawl is probably just around the corner, but we'll have to wait and see!

And who knows? Maybe she'll pull up soon. She loves to pull herself up in the bath (but we stood her by the chair in this picture).

I spend my days just trying to keep up with her! Maybe that's why I haven't gotten around to blogging about these pictures. That, and spring classes just started (ahh!).

Thanks for playing catch up with us!

Messy Mealtime

Because every kid needs pictures of themselves covered in pureed peas.

If I let Elise go at it, this is what she looks like after every mealtime. I love how she looks a little like some kind of slime-covered monster in a couple of these.

Run away!

I wouldn't advise rubbing your eyes if your hands are covered in peas.

The Family Plan

I came across an article tonight called "The No-Baby Boom," and reading it made me so sad. The article talks about how more couples worldwide are choosing to be childless, often because they think having kids would inconvenience them. It is written by a man who decided, with his wife, not to have children. He talks about how expensive raising kids is. Then he says, "But for the child-free, the benefits go beyond dollars and cents. There's less guilt, less worry, less responsibility, more sleep, more free time, more disposable income, no awkward conversations about Teen Mom, no forced relationships with people just because your kids like their kids, no chauffeuring other people's kids in your minivan to soccer games you find less appealing than televised chess." Like life is all about doing whatever you want whenever you want.

I kept thinking about the things he is missing by choosing this lifestyle. What about the fun you can have with your kids? What about the joy that comes from taking care of them and making them happy? What about knowing that your life has a purpose, that you're doing something good for someone besides yourself? What about the way your capacity to love grows every single day? What about getting the chance to witness the miracle each new person in the world is, getting to share your life, and everything in it, with them? What about learning how good it feels to love someone else more than yourself? Some things you can't fully appreciate until you have experienced them for yourself.

I love my husband and daughter more than I can say. I can't imagine what my life would be like without them. I am so grateful that I have the chance to share my life with them. My life is not always fun, and it's rarely glamorous, but I love it. Having a baby is one of the best, happiest things that I ever decided to do. Elise is a constant joy in our lives.

God has a plan for His children, and families are central to that plan. Why are families so important? It is in our families that we learn how to love, and it is in families where we experience our greatest joys. I am so grateful that families can be eternal. (Learn more about what Mormons believe about families here.)

Easter

Happy Easter! Here's a video about the Savior, Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for Him. Because of Him, the dead can live again. Because of His love, we can have peace and joy.

We had such a nice Easter Sunday today. Of course, I forgot to get any pictures of Elise in her Easter dress, but here are a few of her with her basket. We got her a pack of Onsies, baby puffs (she's never tried them before), a jar of baby food mangos (a new favorite), bath toys (which were a big hit tonight in the tub), a noodle teether, a bead maze, and the board book version of her favorite book (Brown Bear, Brown Bear). She also got a sock monkey dressed as a bunny and bubbles from Grandma and Grandpa. All those cool things, and she was mostly interested in the fake grass.

a video of Elise eating the Easter grass

Here are our baskets when they were still intact:

Elise's basket

Matt's (all Reese's, literally)

and mine

I hope everyone had a really great Easter!